Report: California lost $3 billion in film crew wages from 2004 to 2011

Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander in TNT TV series "Rizzoli & Isles," which received a California film tax credit.

Doug Hyun via Los Angeles Times

Doug Hyun via Los Angeles Times

California lost $3 billion in wages from 2004 to 2011 because of film and TV production flocking to other states and countries, a new study concludes.

Burbank-based Entertainment Partners, the industry’s largest payroll service company, which specializes in advising companies on how they can take advantage of film tax credits around the world, says its own research has found that California lost 90,000 jobs and saw its share of overall production wages in the U.S. decline 10% during the period as film producers took their business elsewhere.

About half the lost wages went to New York, Louisiana, New Mexico, North Carolina and other U.S. states that offer film tax credits and rebates -- states that added 45,000 production jobs during the same period. The other half of the lost $3 billion went to Canada, Britain and other foreign countries, according to the report.